The+Road+to+Industrialization

=The Race to Industrialize= Joel Rodriguez (mr.rodriguez23@gmail.com)



Instructional Objective
Through playing this game, learners will learn to use the state mandated Historical and Social Science Analysis Skills and the "habits of mind" identified by the College Board for AP World History. The game will be primarily used in 7th grade World History, 10th grade World History and Cultures and AP World History classes.

Chronological and Spatial Thinking

 * 1) Students compare the present with the past, evaluating the consequences of past events and decisions and determining the lessons that were learned.
 * 2) Students analyze how change happens at different rates at different times; understand that some aspects can change while others remain the same; and understand that change is complicated and affects not only technology and politics but also values and beliefs.

Historical Interpretation

 * 1) Students show the connections, causal and otherwise, between particular historical events and larger social, economic, and political trends and developments.
 * 2) Students recognize the complexity of historical causes and effects, including the limitations on determining cause and effect.
 * 3) Students interpret past events and issues within the context in which an event unfolded rather than solely in terms of present-day norms and values.
 * 4) Students understand the meaning, implication, and impact of historical events and recognize that events could have taken other direction.

AP Habits of Mind
Seeing global patterns over time and space while also acquiring the ability to connect local developments to global ones and to move through levels of generalizations from the global to the particular.

Learners & Context of Use
This game is designed for students being introduced to the major concepts in World History, either at the middle school level or in an AP World History class. The age range of the players is 12 - 16 years of age. Many students in high school and middle school find world history classes boring and disconnected from their lives. The students I had in mind when designing the game were those in my AP World History class. Normally, AP students are highly motivated and have strong background knowledge in history. In the case of my class, it is not quite like this. They are students who normally would not have attempted the course, but after strong words of encouragement and demonstration of the support they will be provided if they attempt the course, they are now in my class. In fact, the purpose of this game is to be able to play it during a one-day summer workshop that is help to give them some skills they will need when the course begin.

Competing Products
There are a few games out there that cover the same content as this game. One game is the video game //[|Civilizations IV]//. Since it is a video game, it is not considered a competing product, but the concept is similar. The one board game I found similar to this was the game //[|Origins: How We Became Human]// by Sierra Madre Games. In this game, players take the role of Peking Man, Archaic Homo Sapiens, Cro-Magnon, Neanderthal, or Homo Floresiensis, and each attempts to develop functions of modern humans in order to develop culture. What is different about the game I am designing is that is looks at the rise of "civilizations", not so much the modern human as a species. In addition, the //Race to Industrialization// game allows players to understand the concepts associated with world history and has players act as societies as they experience history.

Another game similar in the concept, but different in the actual details and game play was the game [|Riding the Word Problem Train into History.] Although this game focused on solving word problems, the idea of understanding key events in the past is based on the same concept as my game. The layout of the game also gave me ideas of how I can make my game more strategy-based. What is unique about the game I created is that it looks at the big picture of world history, without pinpointing exact events or cultures. This allows the player to look more at the cause-effect relationships in order to understand historical patterns when they take the AP World History Course.

**Object of the Game**
The object of the game is to have students successfully pass through the "Major Turning Points" of human history and reach the finish line first. This would help the students better understand the historical patterns that have allowed some countries to prosper and others to decline. Along the way, players are faced with challenges mirrored after some of history's major turning points. They will then have to make decisions that can alter their fate. In order to reach the end of the board successfully, players must have acquired the following along the way: 1 Immunity Peg (Representing the impact of epidemic diseases) 7 Military Pegs (Representing the ability to defend from aggressors) 50 Gold Pieces (Representing economic stability and prosperity)

Content Analysis
The elements of the game can be seen in the content analysis.

Game Materials
To play the game, players will need

1 Game Board 1 die (six sides) 8 Game Pieces 8 Peg Boards 30 Military Pegs 8 Immunity Pegs 200 gold pieces Innovation Cards Turning Point Cards Fate Cards

The board consists of a six rectangular segments. Players may move in either direction within the rectangle until they reach the arrow that guides them to the turning point, and then into a new segment. Along the path, information the must be read when player lands in certain spaces space. In addition, light bulbs mark the "Innovation" spaces that will earn the players an "Innovation Card" when landing on these spaces.
 * The Game Board**

The game is also color coded. Between each "Turning Point", represented by a globe with an arrow, the spaces are all the same color. After a "Turning Point" has been successfully passed, the path changes colors. These colors correspond to the colors on the cards drawn. A player must land on each "Turning Point" and answer questions on a "Turning Point" before continuing on the path. Colors of arrows change after each turning point and coincide with cards. Images on the board are meant to represent the different developments in human history during key epochs.

The game pieces are the pieces players use to move on the board. The pieces will be pegs identical in dimension and only differ in color.
 * Game Pieces**

The peg board is a small wheel that holds up to 9 pegs and is used to hold "immunity" and "military" pegs that players must collect before moving past a turning point.
 * Peg Board**

Military pegs are the green pegs and represent military power. As players face different scenarios, the amount of military pegs they have will determine the options they will be given.
 * Military Pegs**

Immunity pegs represent immunity to disease and must be acquired by the time the second turning point in order to continue on the board. When a player earns an "immunity" peg, they keep it for the entire game.
 * Immunity Pegs**

There will be 150 gold pieces. Players are awarded pieces or lose pieces as they move through board. The amount of gold a player collects determines the choices they are able to make on "Fate Cards" and "Turning Points".
 * Gold**

When landing on a light bulb, players earn an innovation card. These cards contain different technological, political or philosophical developments that have impacted the course of history. For example, players can draw a card that states they have been the first to develop nuclear technology. This will increase the players military power by granting them extra military pegs. The innovation cards will have a set of major innovations color-coded to correspond to the "phase" on the game board the player is on. Other innovations award the players various amounts of gold and free spaces, depending on the card selected. (Example of innovations: development of iron tools, irrigation systems, writing, development of roads, guns, medicine, iron ships, airplanes, democratic government, constitutional government, nuclear technology, steam power, electricity, solar power)
 * Innovation Cards**

When players reach a turning point on the board, they must draw one of these cards and answer the challenge on the card. The ability to choose between answers will depend on the players status (military, economic). Each card will contain a scenario that represents a turning point in history. The players will be given 2-3 options to approach the challenge presented. Each option will have a different, varying, consequence.
 * Turning Point Cards**

Fate cards are used to determine the consequences of a players choices. When faced with challenges on the game board, players will draw a "Fate Card". Some fates will benefit the player, while others will hurt the player. These are meant to represent the unknown consequences of actions to the historical players involved.
 * Fate Cards**





Time Required
This game would be played during a history workshop lasting 4 to 6 hours. It should take 10 minutes to set the board game up and review the rules of the game with the students. The play will last between 90 minutes to 2 hours, with time at the end to process and connect to the contents of the class.

The Rules
1. Set up the board to prepare for the game. Each player starts at the beginning of the board with one gold piece. The object is to move through the six time periods (marked by different colors) in order to reach the FINISH. 2. Players roll the die to determine the order of play. The highest number goes first, the lowest number goes last. 3. To move player piece, roll the die to determine the number of spaces. 4. Players

**Moving On the Board**
1. Players begin by moving within a time period in any direction. Once a player begins in one direction, they must continue in the same direction. 2. Players may change directions when one of the following occurs: - Player comes to a STOP (Turning Point Space) - Player lands on a Red space - Player advances to a new time period on the board. 4. If a player lands on a red space, they may choose to take a shortcut. Shortcuts can only be taken if players land ON a red space. 5. If a player lands on "Innovation" space marked by a light bulb, draw an "Innovation Card" and read the information that corresponds to the color of the space. Follow the directions on the card and return the card to the bottom of the pile. 6. A player must stop when reaching a "Turning Point" space and read the requirements listed. If the player has not met the requirements to continue, they must keep moving within the time period until all requirements are met. (NOTE: Turning Point Image does not count as a space) 7. Players who meet the requirement draw a "Turning Point" card and follow the directions on the card. 8. When a player acquires and Immunity peg, they keep it for the entire game. A player may not advance past the second Turning Point until they have acquired one immunity peg. 9. The first player to reach the end of the game first is declared the winner.

Motivational Issues
The game will engage the learner by creating a competitive gaming atmosphere. Because the game has different paths and consequences, it is not predictable and this can help keep the learner engaged. In addition, the players have different options that they will have to weigh as they move through the board. The game was designed with the John Keller's ARCS model in mind.

//Attention:// Attention is gained and maintained using the randomness of the die. A player can plan a strategy and anticipate an outcome, but the roll is never certain. In addition players must consider challenges and responses to them as they move across the board.

//Relevance:// The game play is similar to other race games, so the concept should be easy to understand. As they play the game, students will be able make connections to historical events they have studied in middle school. Furthermore, since this is meant for students enrolled in AP World History, they will find the concepts learned in the game as a foundation for studying World History.

//Confidence:// Students will be able to identify patterns, allowing for them to make better decisions as the game progresses. This can motivate them to continue through the finish.

//Satisfaction//: Students must meet requirements during each phase of game play, as well as set backs. This should keep the game from becoming too easy, but at the same time provide as sense of accomplishment when they move on.

Design Process
The design of the game took place over several steps. When we were first introduced to the idea, I was jotting down ideas of what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted a game that would help students understand the big picture of world history. Initially, I looked at my notes and began to come up with a game that would take the players through the course of world history. My first thoughts were, "how in the world are you going to do this?" Without thinking, I just started to list ideas and play around with a design, without realizing I had not done a true content analysis. Thanks to Bernie, I was able to catch that major flaw and went to work on the content analysis.

I am not a big gamer, but I had heard of the games //Age of Empires// and //Civilizations IV.// I liked the concept, but wanted to do something that was a little different and that would not include any actual historical societies, but rather show how any society could have developed. As I played with the concept, I talked to some of my AP students and asked if they would have liked to play this prior to beginning the course. I asked five students, one of which is my most disengaged student. I also asked my wife, who doesn't really like games. I used their feedback to make changes and adjust some of the elements in the game.

When I began the design, I had a winding course with stops in between major eras. I also had player pieces that were based on political and social systems. Soon I realized I was trying to do too much on a concept that was already challenging enough. What I decided to do was to just use simple pegs as game pieces and redesign the board. Instead of a winding road, I divided the board into six segments that can be navigated in different directions in order to collect all the neccesary pieces to move on. This, I believe, will add more thought on the part of the players to develop a strategy and take risks. I also changed the name of the game. I initially wanted to call it "The Road to Industrialization", but as the "race" idea developed, I changed it to the "Human Race". I thought this was a nice play on words until I was finishing the board and I began to dislike the title. The game itself has some cultural bias and looking at the major turning points in history as mainly centered on developments in Europe. The point is for students to understand how we got to this point in history, and that is where the bias develped. With that in mind, I did not want to give the misconception of "race", so I changed the title to "The Race to Industrialize".

The first lesson I learned is to begin with a thorough content analysis. This really helped me narrow my focus and select a design that fit the needs I wanted to meet for the students.

The first stage of the process involved creating the board and the cards. This was challenging because of the content involved. I wanted to avoid specific facts and stick to concepts. As a result, the scenarios represent generalizations loosely based on historical events.

**Testing the Game.**
The game was tested with 2 adults playing each other, and on a separate occasion with two students and one teacher. Feedback on the actual game play was positive. Both students and adults found the game engaging and interactive and did not give any recommendations on the concept of the game. The feedback did lead to actual changes in the rules, game play and design on the board. The following summarize the changes made as a result of the feedback.

1. Clarify the rules for player movement 2. Make the Start and Finish points easier to identify. 3. Clarify the Turning Point Spaces 4. Rewrite the rules in student-friendly terms. 5. Remove arrows from the board - too confusing.